ok...was it well maintained by the previous owner? if youre not sure, ask him about it, find out if he had regular maintenance performed on the mower. as far as i can tell you, hondas will run and run and run forever, and the older ones are pretty much bulletproof. if it looks good (if theres something wrong with the deck, i.e. rust holes, dents, cracks, it was abused. i said hondas are SOLID), runs good, and has been regularly maintained, it should last you years, and will start reliably as a back up. mine fires up every time, first pull. that is, WHEN i use it

only thing I would worry about is the drive. If the self propel works and is fast enough for you then great. If you have any doubts about the speed or condition of it I would pass. A self propelled mower that will not go uphill is worthless.

Have an older hr21 I call it the tank, is this one your looking at have a gear drive or belt drive, the one i have is gear drive awesome, its better then the quad blade i bought two years ago, start it up run it and if works good buy it, you can get parts for it also, if you have to.

I'm looking at one too. The seller states the deck material is aluminum and therefore will never rust. Were any of these made with aluminum decks? It also says automatic choke so it requires no priming.
Thanks!

What is the exact model number of the machine? Most Honda mowers start with the verbiage HR21. Could be almost any model. You seem to be missing some information I gather.

I would recommend taking a look at this website to try and find the exact model number for that machine. There is a lot of helpful info there to get you started especially if you're going to be purchasing an older machine.

I have an original 1986 Honda commercial 21 inch machine. I have been using it since the day it was purchased by my father for me to cut grass with (I was 12 years old). In the last 3 years I have replaced every single part on the machine courtesy of that website. You wouldn't be able to tell the mower is almost 30 years old. It looks brand new off the dealership floor. More importantly, it runs and cuts better than our new commercial model HRC 21 inchers. Just not quite as fast.